


Who's Your Daddy?

by Amanuansis908



Category: Kaze no Tani no Naushika | Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 07:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4995586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amanuansis908/pseuds/Amanuansis908
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Flaxtop is informed about her illustrious past, Asbel becomes obsessed with trying to find her father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

“NO, SHE YO MAMMA!!!!!!” Flaxtop’s chuckling uncle’s words refused to escape her mind as the duo leisurely strolled back to the east gate. “Uncle, why didn’t you say something sooner?” She said, her head cocked curiously at him. “I never got the chance, she doesn’t exactly come every week or something.” He explained flatly. That was somewhat reasonable. “Now don’t you go blabbing that you’re leaving next summer or anything, okay? Ketcha would kill me if you did.” “Why’s that?” He let out a long sigh. “Well, the Regent and her don’t exactly get along, to put it lightly, and she’s been doing all she can to make you the polar opposite of her.” She raised an eyebrow. “All I’m going to say is that she’s got some spunk.” They were silent the rest of the way. The sun had fully set by the time Asbel had resumed his post at the summit of the parapet of the gate, and Flaxtop sent back to within the city. “Raoxshna!” Ketcha hollered from one of the dwellings amid the scaffolds. “Child, where in Bachida have you been? Your clothes are filthy. Well, you’ll have to wash them along with your buskins, I’ll reckon.” “Okay, Auntie.” Flaxtop said nonchalantly. Ketcha scowled as she walked into the small house. “Hurry and eat your dinner, you have to be in bed by moonrise.” Flaxtop hurried to the kitchen and did as she was told. Just a few more months, She daydreamed as she shoveled spiced, cooked grain and meat stew into her mouth. And then I’ll be the Princess Regent, my own title. She slipped into her small bedroom, which she shared with her foster sisters, Mari and Llargi, who were quietly whispering to each other. She undressed, pulling on her light pink nightgown and tearing off her cap and setting it next to her small cot on the floor, near Mari and Llargi’s cots. “What took you so long?” LLargi asked, puzzled. “Oh, uh, I, um was just checking up on Uncle on the east gate and we, er, decided to stargaze a little.” Flaxtop lied. “Yeah right, you hate stargazing and I know it. What were you really doing, flirting with some boy?” Mari accused, looking straight at her in the now moon-and-candle illuminated room. Flaxtop inhaled and stared, distracted at the floor. “Fine, so maybe I wasn’t stargazing. These Torumekian soldiers came to the gate and were riding to Pagase, when one of them recognized me and they wanted to drink from our well.” She raised her head to see the sisters look at each other doubtfully, then at her. Mari snorted. “Yeah right. I’ll bet you were with Akihiko, that boy who said you were cute last week.” She denied. “Yeah, he must have professed his undying love for you up there, you were gone so long.” Llargi agreed. Flaxtop rolled her eyes. “What were you doing?” She asked them. “Priest needed help cleaning his dusty statues.” Llargi said. “Momma needed help making a new batch of tea.” Mari said. “Oh.” “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to go to bed, I want to be the first one to have breakfast.” Mari said as she crawled into her cot. “Me too.” Llargi said and slid into her identical bed. Flaxtop had no choice but to retire for the day as well, for she knew she had to do quite a bit of washing the next morning, anyway. “Hey,” Hands shook her awake immediately. “Huh?” Flaxtop mumbled as she rolled over onto her side, both surprised and shocked to see her uncle’s face staring back at her. “Yes?” He gave her one of his signature, patented jack o’ lantern grins. “So I got this idea a couple of minutes ago and I think it’ll work.” Flaxtop rubbed her sleep filled eyes. “What?” “Okay,” Her uncle’s eyes were filled to the brim with excitement. “The cavalry troops are still at the well,” “So?” She yawned, stretching her arms wide. “Well,” He crouched down beside her bed. “We can catch them if we hurry.” She blinked. “Why would we want to catch up to them?” “You do want to see your kingdom, don’t you?” “Yeah?” “Haven’t you ever sat down and wondered about your family?” His eyes lit up in the pitch black darkness. “Ever wondered who your daddy is?” “No, not really.” “Well Flaxtop, we’re going to find out.” He stood up and stood in the doorway. “Come on, they might not be there anymore.” As the two tread lightly out of the house and into the square, Flaxtop stopped in the middle of the square. “What are you waiting for?” She looked at him, a mischievous smile creeping across her face as she involuntarily spun around four times, and all of a sudden her clothes began to change. A white and gold, serpent decorated dress replaced her nightgown, a sparkling, gold crown appeared atop her ripe wheat colored hair and twin white shoes appeared on her feet. “What in the Sea of Corruption!?” Asbel breathed. Things took a turn for the weirdest when she all of a sudden broke out in song. 

“Okay, lift my face, get used to this crown   
I swear if I was underwater, this thing would make me drown  
Oh gods, I’m wearing heels and a gown  
Now nobody came tell me to calm down!”

She spun around some more, then stumbled as she regained her balance.

“Ohmu legs, I almost fell..”

She then began to sing the second verse and now the Mani tribe was peering out of their windows, and some were timidly coming out to the square to see what kind of crazy weirdo was singing at midnight.

“Geez, why didn’t I know this before  
I don’t have to live in this tiny village no more!  
Out of the desert and into the castle  
Forgetting my life here sure won’t be a hassle!”

By then all of the villagers, young and old joined her song, and even Asbel and the priest seemed to know the lyrics.

“For a moment, young Flaxy,  
Was our own little missy,  
Now she’ll be raised to conquer and conquest  
Wearing yards of chainmail under her dress!”

“For a moment, she was one of us,  
But soon war maps she’ll discuss  
This wasn’t necessarily the day we had planned,  
To send her to back to her own homeland!”

Everyone quieted down and she resumed her solo.

“Everything will be grand, a girl’s posh and pretty dreamland!  
And to think all of it will be in my hands  
When I’m older, it’ll expand!”

The people began to dance as Flaxtop sang acapella to the song she made up just a moment before, nobody questioning her clothes’ magical transformation.

“For a moment, our girl will shine!  
When she gets to say “The world is mine!”  
She’ll live a life in the palace without a care  
For OUR girl is Torumekia’s one and only heir!”

Someone had brought their flute outside and had begun to play a simple melody, everyone dancing with each other, Mari and Llargi among the people. All was wonderful and fun until the door to Flaxtop’s Aunt’s dwelling creaked open and the nightgown clad, slipper wearing Ketcha stormed out into the square, halting the gallant festivities with her sudden arrival. “What does everybody think they are doing? Are you not aware that work starts early tomorrow? If you do not get enough rest, everyone will become idle! Did you hear me? IDLE!” She scolded the city-dwellers as people began to drag their children back inside and return to their beds. She whipped around to see her own two children along with Asbel and Flaxtop standing, looking somewhat fearfully at her. “Go to bed I say!” Her daughters gladly complied with this order, but Asbel and Flaxtop hung back. “This is our cue to run.” He whispered into her ear. “Now!” They sprinted off while Ketcha’s back was turned to them, going to the back of the city, where the well was. “Hey-” Unfortunately, Ketcha caught them running away from the corner of her eye, and was quickly at their heels. Asbel grabbed the collar of Flaxtop’s dress, pulling her into a dark alley. “Couple of days ago I found a shortcut,” He panted. “Never really knew it would come in handy.” They walked in silence the rest of the alley until Asbel stopped in the middle of the wall, and pulled a brick out of the surface. “Uncle,” Flaxtop asked, seeing the lanterns of the cavalry troops only about a few meters away. “How are we going to follow them if we’d be spotted in a heartbeat?” “Ah ha, one step ahead of you, child,” He pushed in the wall, revealing a door. He stepped inside and pulled out two shining suits of armor. “But-but, HOW?” She stammered. He lay them down on the ground and went back inside, and pulled two unconscious men out of the hidden room, clothed in Dorok attire. “Knocked them while you were asleep, overheard them say they needed to go to the bathroom.” Asbel threw them back inside, and locked the door. “Hurry and put the armor on, they’re going.” They hastily pulled on the heavy suits of metal and put on the helmets. As they clanked to the troops, Asbel turned to Flaxtop. “Whatever you do, don’t say anything.” She nodded. The men were mounting their horseclaws, and Kushana barked an unrecognizable order in Torumekian. Everyone replied but her, who had a hard time slinging her short body onto the tall, restless horseclaw. And then they were off, the animals running like the wind. Asbel guided his horseclaw next to Flaxtop’s. “How are you doing?” He asked her. “Okay.” “If what these people said was true, we’ll reach Pagase before sunrise, and you won’t have to worry about keeping your mouth shut, they speak Dorok.” She sighed in relief. She’d been to Pagase once before and was vaguely aware of how to get there. The night went on and, although it was dark, she began to notice that they weren’t on course to Pagase, but heading another, alien, route she’d never been on before. Oh no, She thought grimly. I knew this wouldn’t turn out well. “Asbel!” She whispered loudly. But there was no response, as she now could see as the sun began to rise, that he was slumped forward on his horseclaw-and she was unsure if he was alive or not.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The continuation of part 1.

When we last saw our valiant and brave heroes, er, stowaways, they were riding on unsteady steeds into the break of dawn, led by Flaxtop’s own mother. She leaned on her horseclaw to get next to her unresponsive uncle, to eliminate the thought of him being that way forever. She shakily outstretched her arm to jab him in the shoulder, leaving only one hand for her to hold on to the frisky horseclaw. Flaxtop succeeded in extinguishing her worst fear when he moved his arm, and then sat back up, squinting at his unfamiliar surroundings, then suddenly remembered. “Huh? Sorry, I must have fallen asleep. Are we at Pagase yet?” Asbel inquired softly, still dazed from his slumber. “Uncle, that’s what I was wondering, but I think she took another route,” She grabbed a spyglass from a belt too low on her waist, one hand still holding the reins, and handed it carefully to Asbel, who held it up to his right eye. “I didn’t see the city gate, but I did see a big tower.” “Right, you’re right.” He mumbled, his words barely audible over the pounding of the horseclaws feet on the desert dust underfoot. He handed it back to her. “But I’ll imagine we’ll be heading somewhere better than Pagase. Flaxtop, my girl, we’re going to Tolas.” If he could have seen her expression under her ten-pound helmet, he probably would have had a good, hearty guffaw at her agape mouth and wide eyes. “TOLAS?” She blurted a little too loudly. “Shh, yes, child.” “The capital? The home of the Vai emperor? The big apricot?” Flaxtop’s eyes were as big as saucers. “Yup. If you can make it there you can make it anywhere.” Asbel said. She was in far too much shock of their destination to say anything else, so she wondered what exactly the people were like, or where exactly they were going to find her father in the mess of houses, bazaars and buildings in an afternoon. A few minutes later, the cavalry troops arrived at the base of a tower, and everyone dismounted their horseclaws. Flaxtop was exceedingly glad to see the last of the animal, which had made her nervous. All of the soldiers clanked to a relatively large building connected to the tower, which Flaxtop thought must be the barracks. The building was erected close to the entrance of the city, on a dug-out mound of earth, one side of it built slanted into the dune. Once there, everybody proved her point as all of them began to take off their heavy armor, leaving Flaxtop and her uncle still clothed in metal. “Uncle,” She whispered. “What are we going to do now?” She swore she could see a smirk tugging at his stoic face through his helmet. “When people begin to leave, we hide in the bathroom, then we escape out of the bathroom window, into the city.” He murmured. “What if the bathroom doesn’t have a window?” He considered this. “Then we are a dead man and his fake niece.” Everything went according to plan as some of the men started to exit the locker room-like building, Asbel and Flaxtop slid unnoticed into the bathroom, and tore off their sweat-coated, dust-covered, once-shining, armor. Flaxtop was still wearing the white dress and shoes as well as the crown from the night before, while Asbel was still in his tunic and khaki pants. He lifted the shiny treasure off of the girl’s head, and studied it. “Hey, give it back!” Flaxtop pleaded, but he held it high above her head, out of her reach. “Hmm, doesn’t look too bad, it's got a nice shine to it, too,” He mumbled to himself in thought. Flaxtop stopped her protests and frowned. “I thought I heard footsteps.” She said. Asbel’s eyes widened in fear. “With our luck, it’s your mom, the window’s up here, I’ll boost you up.” He held Flaxtop by the middle and hoisted her up to the poor excuse of a window, no more than a sloppily constructed rectangular hole. But alas, she managed to fit through, and crawled out of the barracks and onto the burning, hot, dusty, ground. She aided Asbel out as well, trying her hardest to use all of her strength to pull him out. “Well, would you look at that?” He marveled at the grand entrance to the city. “Tolas,” Flaxtop breathed in awe. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go find your father!” He set off, strutting pridefully into the sea of citizens. “Wait!” Flaxtop said pitifully as her uncle disappeared, then reappeared at her side. “We’ll need proper clothes first, of course,” He remarked sheepishly. “Right now we’re like ravens in a barley field.” Asbel and Flaxtop casually meandered through the crowds, Asbel occasionally asking people something in Torumekian, until finally he had an answer. “Great, there’s a store in Occasions Square, near 6th Avenue, and they sell clothes,” He happily announced. The duo marched posthaste along the streets, often stopping as horseclaw-driven carts and merchants lugging wheelbarrows full of splendid spices and other goods. At last they reached the store, a small, quaint, structure seemingly out of place in the bustling square. Flaxtop read the sign, which said in both Torumekian and Dorok: The Convenience Store Around the Corner. Asbel pushed the glass door open, to reveal a polished, neatly stacked, tidy, shop. While Flaxtop just explored the ridiculously uncluttered aisles, Asbel attempted to spark a conversation with the only apparent employee behind the register, who was currently caught up in the number-one show everybody watched, the audio occupying the silence: Torumekia’s Got Talent. She listened as her uncle tried to converse in Torumekian, until at last the man spoke. “You know I speak Dorok, right?” He answered in a tinny, nasal voice. Flaxtop quit her short expedition to rejoin her uncle. That’s when she stole a good look at the cashier. The first thing she noticed was his reflective, sort of hairless, egg-shaped head, with a thin ring of stormy gray-colored hair around it. Then she saw his pie-shaped face, his dinner plate sized dark brown eyes, framed by miniscule, circle glasses set on a teeny button nose, thin, light pink lips, and a weak chin which gave way to an impressive triple-chin. “Oh, good,” Asbel replied. “We’re not from around here.” He sighed to himself then his eyes went wide as he remembered something. “Oh!” He nearly jumped. “Do you buy gold?” He asked. The man raised his owl-sized eyes to study him. “I guess.” He said, clearly annoyed by some unknown cause. “Great!” Asbel place the small, gold crown on the register. The clerk held it up with fat, sausage-like fingers, and in the other hand, held a spyglass. “A little banged up,” He muttered. “Little crack here, little crack there.” He set down the glass and the crown. “Probably worth a hundred and five bucks, considering all of the flaws.” “A HUNDRED AND FIVE!?” Asbel raged. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN A HUNDRED AND FIVE!? The thing’s SOLID GOLD!” The clerk sighed audibly. “Keeping in mind all of the dents and punctures, that’s all, I’m afraid.” Flaxtop glanced at her reddening uncle in dismay. “We could try another store.” She said in attempt to calm Asbel. “Sorry sweetheart, there isn’t a store like mine for miles.” Asbel stared hard at the crown. “Oh, alright fine.” The clerk smiled and handed him the money. “Do you happen to sell any clothes?” Asbel asked. “Aisle seven, near the Halloween decorations.” He replied distastefully. Flaxtop’s uncle ushered her to the designated aisle, as they began to search desperately for some clothes that fit them, and after a grueling half-hour expedition, they were successful. As they brought up the clothes to the register and the old man rang them up, Flaxtop watched as Asbel’s eyes flickered like a candle in the wind, the look he always got whenever an idea was forming. “Do a lot of people come here?” He asked. “More or less. This place is usually busy in the morning, ‘cause everyone forgets to buy milk the night before.” The clerk groaned. “Uh huh. I see…” Asbel said. “Yup.” He confirmed as he scanned the last of the garments and Flaxtop’s uncle paid. “Do you have a dressing room?” He asked. “Not really, but I guess you could use my freezer room,” The clerk moaned. “Just don’t mess up my meats.” As the uncle and niece shivered as they disobeyed the store clerk’s advisory and made a makeshift wall, splitting the wintery room in half, they put on the new clothes they had just bought, and then came out. “Flaxtop, I have a plan,” Asbel said with a glint in his eye. “And it’s totally going to work, we’ll find your father in no time, just follow my lead.” He went back to the head of the store and cleared his throat. “What do you want?” Whined the clerk. “We’re sorry to interrupt your mediocre life, but we came to Tolas looking for her father, could you help us?” He placed his hands on Flaxtop’s shoulders. “I hate my job and I’m beginning to hate you. Why should I bother?” He scoffed. “If you help us, I’ll find you a better job, I’ll search for months if I have to.” The clerk sighed. “I suppose, but it better be good. Do you know her dad?” “Uh, no.” “Then how do you expect to find him?” Asbel smiled. “We were hoping you could help us with that.” “What do you mean?” “You have a store, maybe he’ll just waltz in while we just wait here and we’ll know.” The clerk leaned back in his swivel chair. “Highly unlikely but there’s a catch for staying here.” “And what is that?” “You have to work for me.” “Fair enough.” “First thing you have to do is open up the shop, you two came bursting in while it was still closed.” “Wait, before we start, what’s your name?” The clerk exhaled. “Billy Bob Joe Fisherman. My friends call me Billy or Bob or Joe. Or Fisherman. You’re not my friends, call me the Store Clerk.” “Okay Store Clerk, we’ll have your store open in no time!” Asbel and Flaxtop strode to the double glass doors and opened them to the regular desert-like heat of the city, and flipped the sign either of them had missed from closed to open. That was when out of the blue, the people cluttering the thin streets erupted in a melody.

Wow, look at the crowd part  
This city is aglow  
Huge mixture of talk  
I feel invisible  
Everybody here  
Has got something more  
We’re searching for a dude we haven’t   
seen before  
So thanks guys for letting us in

Flaxtop sang a solo as the people surrounding her began to stare in curiosity. Then everyone joined in.

Welcome to Tolas!  
The Imperial family is crazy!  
Welcome to Tolas!  
The Imperial family is crazy!  
Welcome to Tolas!

It's an awesome sauce place  
You’d wanna visit everyday  
Sure, things sometimes are wild  
But they never bother me!

Welcome to Tolas!  
The Imperial family is crazy!  
Welcome to Tolas!  
Welcome to Tolas!

Everyone clapped their hands in merriment and joy, to for once be distracted by a little bit of idleness, and deep within her heart, Flaxtop felt like this city was home. It was just her and her thoughts she heard the ear-splitting shriek about a few meters away.


End file.
